Chap. XII.—B.S.] 
PEftA BLANCA. 
197 
the latitude hy observation, 12° 16' 17., and the longi¬ 
tude, from chart, 84° 59' W. This leaves but a short 
distance between the principal mines and the seaboard, 
and from Pena Blanca, which is the highest known 
peak of Chontales, and may be about 2500 feet above 
the sea, you can make out the hills about Blewfields, 
though not the ocean itself. The vegetation of Pena 
Blanca is distinct from that of any other mountain- 
top I have seen in Chontales. I found there a tine 
purple Lobelia, a scarlet caulescent orchid ( Ornitho- 
rhynchos ), and a crimson Macleania. Much to my 
regret, many of the woody plants had been destroyed 
by tire. On my last ascent the gentleman who had 
kindled the flame was with me, and was somewhat 
astonished when, instead of receiving unqualified 
praise for having cleared the view, I told him it 
was fortunate, standing as we did on the brink of a 
yawning precipice, that the enraged botanist within 
me was somewhat mollified by my appreciation of 
the fine landscape which he had, as it were, unrolled. 
Pena Blanca commands a very fine view. On ac¬ 
count of the denseness of the forest, you cannot see 
any rivers, though they discharge themselves into the 
Atlantic, the Javali entering the Mico, and the Mico 
the Blewfields; but you can see the 1 Javali lode of au¬ 
riferous quartz rocks for several miles, and distinctly 
trace the various branches (which in many instances 
have proved extremely rich) running into it. Further 
on, the eye, passing over dense virgin forests, encoun¬ 
ters green savanas. The view is bounded on the east 
by hills near Blewfields, on the west by Lake Nicara- 
